Motorized vehicles are targets of ban

September 25, 2003|By Janice Neumann.

OAK FOREST — Seeking to head off accidents caused by people veering down busy streets on motorized scooters, the Oak Forest City Council voted Tuesday to ban many motorized vehicles from sidewalks, streets or public ways.

An exception was made for physically challenged people using motor-assisted wheelchairs or scooters, or for participants in a parade authorized by the city.

"There's been an influx of these scooters, but we've had other incidences of skateboards with motors and inline skates with motors," said Police Chief John Koch, who suggested the law with Ald. Beverly Swartz and helped draft it. "We want to let all the residents know it may be fun, but it's dangerous and it's illegal."

The vehicles banned include motorized pedicycles, bicycles, mini-bikes, go-carts and all-terrain vehicles, scooters, skateboards and roller skates. They only can be used on privately owned areas or places where they are authorized by the owner of the property.

Mayor Patrick Gordon said he had recently encountered a teen driving a motorized vehicle down Central Avenue, and several aldermen said they had seen the vehicles going down Cicero Avenue.

"I've had them around my neighborhood, and they're scaring me to death," Swartz said. "It's hard to see them; they come out from between cars."

Though state law does not specifically address motorized vehicles, they are not eligible for registration and title, so they are prohibited from public roadways, said Investigator Tom Krol of the Secretary of State's Department of Police. But state law does not ban them from sidewalks, Krol said.

Fines in Oak Forest start at $25 and can reach $500 for repeat offenders, Koch said.

Other municipalities, such as Cicero, have adopted a similar ban, and Chicago and Elgin are considering one.